Author 



V * 




o 
o 



Title 



-^ ** s 



Book..».JL-4.S-.... 



Imprint. 



AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED 



IX THE CHURCH AT PRIXCETON, 



THE EVENING BEFORE THE 



ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 



OF THE 



COLLEGE OF NEW-JERSE7, 

September 23, 1828. 



BY JOSEPH r' INGERSOLL, Esq. 



PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE AMERICAN WHIG 
AND CLIOSOPHIC SOCIETIES. 



PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETIES, BY CONNOLLY & MADDEK^: 

1828. 






t Coiw 



f 



V 



V 



:EXTRACT from the minutes of the AMERICAN WHIG 
SOCIETY, AT ITS ANNUAL MEETING, SEPT. 24, 1828. 
Resolved, unanimously. That the ihanks of the American Whig 
"Society be given to Joseph R. Ingersoll, Esq., for the able and 
eloquent Address, delivered by him, on the 23d inst, ; and that he be 
requested to furnish a copy for publication. 

Commitiee.to communicate to Mr. Ingersoll the above Resolution: 

WILLIAM C. ALEXANDER, Esa. 
Mr. G. W. LEYBURN, 
Mr. A. A. CAROTHERS. 



EXTRACT EROM THE MINUTES OF THE CLIOSOPHIC SOCI- 
ETY, AT ITS ANNUAL MEETING, SEPT. 24, 1828. 

Resolved, unanimously. That the thanks of this Society be presented to 
JossFH R. Ingersoll, Esq., for the able and learned Address, delivered 
by him, before the American Whig and Cliosophic Societies, and that he 
be requested to furnish a copy for publication. 

Resolved, That Professors Maclean and Pattow be a committee to 
inform Mr. Ingersoll of the adoption of the above resolution. 



ADDRESS, 



The period has arrived, which dissolves the immediate 
connexion between this venerable institution and a portion 
of its pupils. A period, which at the same time, advances 
in the dignity of scholarship and in progress towards a 
similar consummation, all who enjoy its inestimable advan- 
tages. They who have terminated their college studies, and 
they, (still happier if they knevfr their true interests,) who have 
yet before them a part of their career, look forward with 
delight to the moment of fancied emancipation. Believe 
me, it is a moment less to be desired than deplored. The 
breach that is made in friendships formed in the ardor and 
sincerity of youth, is apparently the single mitigation to the 
joy which is anticipated on entering the busy world. But 
it is in truth the least important of the results which attend 
the separation. Time, which matures the faculties and 
expands the intellect of man ; and observation and experi- 
ence, which render him so many good offices in the develop- 
ment of the riches of nature and of art ; serve too, to perform 
the thankless duty of removing the veil which is mercifully 
spread over many a distant mournful reality, and of putting 
to flight, the gayest and most delightful delusions, with which 
the future is peopled by the imagination. From this period 
the two chief sources of human happiness begin to fail. 
Novelty, which has heretofore given brightness to every 



lobject, must soon appear with diminished charms ; and hope, 
will presently repeat her whispers, in less confiding ears. 

The hours of academic retirement are among the most 
important of our lives. In its classic shades, the character, 
and with it the future destiny, is often formed and irrevocably 
fixed. As every variety of knowledge is exhibited to the 
eye, every diversity of taste is tempted to acquisition and 
enjoyment, and the various elements of science are gained 
or lost forever. At a day long distant from the period of 
youthful study, the mind, in the possession of the acquire- 
ments which industry and long continued experience have 
gathered into its stores, traces the origin of most of its attain- 
ments, to the recesses of a college. The little glimmering 
spark which scarcely shed a ray of light when it began to 
glow, continues to expand with the progress of years, and 
the developement of intellect, until it becomes a guide to 
its possessor, and perhaps a source of instruction to the 
world. Education confers its benefits and blessings, not 
only in the direct communication of knowledge, but in 
informing the understanding, it elevates the character and 
improves the heart. Speaking of a single science, for exam- 
ple, says one who is said to have led forth the whole circle 
from Egyptian bondage :* " That use which is collateral 
and intervenient, is no less w6rthy than that which is prin- 
<jipal and intended : If the wit be too dull, they sharpen it j 
if too wandering, they fix it ; if too inherent in the sense, 
they abstract it." 

In looking back to this period of early happiness, a mel- 
ancholy interest is mingled with the recollection ; — in reflect- 
* Lord Bacon, in allusion to the Mathematics, 



/ng on the many, who united in the toils and gratifications 
of the hour, and are now gathered to their fathers. If the 
Persian monarch wept at the anticipation that his submis- 
sive milHons were but mortal, how keen is the reality of the 
retrospect^ which these scenes are calculated to excite ! 

From the earliest history of instruction, the wisdom has 
been obvious of assembling together those who are to be its 
objects, with a view to concentrate the rays of knowledge — 
to inspire laudable emulation — to promote the habit of self- 
inquiry and of comparison with kindled interests, and to 
impress a conviction of the necessity of vigorous exertion 
and the certainty of its success. Systems have been adopted 
as various as the habits and character of the people among 
whom they have been introduced. But the necessity of 
EDUCATION, and the essential principles by which it is 
governed, have been recognized in every period and every 
diversity of civil society. It could not have been neglected 
in Egypt, where learning and the arts prevailed. Yet such 
was the inconsistency of a nation, from which even Plato- 
and Pythagoras derived their philosophy, that instruction 
was confined to the same priesthood, which collected the 
treasures of useful knowledge, and darkened the understand- 
ing with the empty mysteries of a preposterous superstition, 
which descended to the worship of the most contemptible 
objects in the animal, and even vegetable world. It was 
reserved for the present day to disclose the nothingness even 
of their hieroglyphics — the last remaining mystery which had 
perplexed inquiry and long defied the scrutiny of the wise. 

No scholar is a stranger to the principles of education 
among the ancient Persians, for they have been made fami- 



8 

liar by " the sage and heroic Xenophon." They rested oii 
a basis of sound philosophy, and adopted the conviction, 
that the understanding and the feelings may be moulded by 
a plastic hand : that usefulness in maturity is to be attained 
only by a watchful and unbending discipline in earlier yearsi 
Hence the youth were withdrawn from parental indulgence 
and taught the gracefulness of truth and the practice of justice 
in public schools, over which the wisest of the Magi were 
apportioned to preside. 

Lycurgus still more closely embodied a system of national 
education into his great scheme of government. No one 
could attain the hard earned glory of citizenship at Sparta, 
unless he could trace back his claims through every stage of 
this iron institution, not only to the earliest periods of his own 
infancy, but even to an inheritance derived from the citizen- 
ship of his parents. A system altogether public, and alto- 
gether warlike, for even the Goddess of Love was adored in 
armour, can be recurred to, for few principles, for adoption 
in a different state of manners, in a dissimilar and distant age. 

An absence of public instruction, under the care of the 
government of Rome, was more than compensated by the 
devotion of individuals to the cause of education. An un- 
limited authority vested in the head of every family, afforded 
ample opportunity to inculcate, and if necessary, to enforce 
lessons of obedience and knowledge, and to uphold examples 
of virtue, and the sacred obligation thus devolved was dis- 
charged with pious and never failing care : while the first 
duty and supreme delight of the Roman matron, consisted 
in personal superintendance of the future statesmen and 
^varriors who were to be guardians of her country's glory; 



More than one establishment of learning still remains, 
which traces its origin, at least to the confines of antiquity. 
If the University of Paris has failed to maintain its claims to 
the honor of being founded by Charlemagne, it was nearly 
coeval with that great prince, to whom his country is indc bt- 
ed for the introduction of public schools, and the world, for 
unlocking the heaviest fetters of the feudal system, in which 
mankind appeared until his time indissolubly bound. Oxford 
flourished and was increased under the patronage of the 
virtuous Alfred, "who blessed his native land with liberty." 
Bologna, Padua and Naples, Cambridge, Salamanca, Prague 
and Leipsic, all sprang into vigorous existence long before the 
general revival of letters, and contributed to preserve from 
total annihilation, the memorials of ancient literature, until 
they were imperishably secured by the art of printing, and 
the diffusion of knowledge, which was the necessary result. 
They seem to have been placed like the high priest of Israel, 
in the hour of calamity, to stay the progress of desolation — 
standing as it were, between the living and the dead. Some 
of the preparatory schools, which, to the present hour, are 
distinguished as nurseries of the richest erudition — Win- 
chester and Eaton — were established in the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries. Multiplied as the advantages now are, 
of these venerable abodes of learning, it is almost incredible 
how numerously they were attended at an early age. — 
Bologna is said to have numbered ten thousand pupils in 
the thirteenth century : Oxford thirty thousand ; and Paris 
more than either. Classes literally flocked to hear the 
logical expositions of Abelard, as he was persecuted from 



10 

one theatre of instruction to another, until he witnessed 
twenty cardinals and Mty Bishops among his hearers. 

Modern times have multiphed these sources of instnifttion, 
and sometimes varied their course of discipline ; but not 
always with advantage to the pupil or the cause of science. 
Both in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe, there 
exist scholars as profound, learning as diversified, zeal and 
industry as persevering, (with the exception of a few bright 
stars that will continue to shine foremost in the tirmament 
of science,) as have distinguished any age. But the sceptre 
of discipline has often fallen from their grasp. Too much is 
submitted to the voluntary ambition of the pupil, without the 
continued pressure of incitements and restraints, which youth 
generally requires. The distinguished E iglish seminaries 
have been content, in many particulars, to substitute an 
observance of external, and to our feelings, useless form, 
for the substantial exactions necessary to advancement : and 
the deep read philosophers of Germany have found them- 
selves submitting to unmannerly dictation from precocious 
politicians, who have converted the abodes of the musea 
into scenes of faction and disgraceful strife. According to 
an intelligent traveller,* the lecture rooms are but secondary 
to the fencing school : that is the temple of the misguided 
'J)illpil : the rapier is his God ; and the comment, or code of 
duel discipline, the Gospel by which he swears. 

Some honorable and useful exceptions are to be found 
to this frequent insubordination, in the very neighborhood 
where the contagion of disorder had been chiefly pernicious. 
Influenced, perhaps, by a disapprobation of the existing state 

» Bussell. 



11 

v>f things, and inspired by a hope, that a change of system 
might preserve the innocent in purity, if it did not reclaim 
the dissolute from vice, certain philanthropists introduced a 
peculiarly happy system of popular instruction. Pestalozzi 
had the merit of making known, at Stantz, in Switzerland, 
his scheme of practical benevolence. The well directed 
exertions of Lancaster, in England, and Dr. Bell, at Ma- 
dras, were, as if by concert, about the same time, facili- 
tating the progress of universal knowledge in their respective 
spheres. In the enterprizes of science, and the efforts of 
benevolence: in whatever tends to the improvement in hap- 
piness, or the enlargement of knowledge among our species, 
there is a harmony of design, a combination and conformity 
of circumstances, which seem to point out their authors as 
little noore tJian agents in the hands of a beneficent Provi- 
dence, by whose supreme will, alone, the ends are accom- 
plished. The capacities of men, indeed, are more nearly 
on a level, than the pride of philosophy will readily admit. 
Events which are ascribed to particular individuals, would, 
in all probability, have taken place, if their actual authors 
had never been born. It is not to l?e supposed that vast 
continents, now teeming with human life and happiness, 
would have remained a howling wilderness ; or that the 
mysteries of nature would have been locked up forever, in 
her dark caverns, or incommunicative elements ; or that the 
planets would have revolved in sublime, but impracticable 
grandeur, till the voice of the archangel shall pronounce, that 
time shall be no longer; — even if Columbus had foreborne 
to press his suit upon a reluctant sovereign, or yielded to the 
threats and mutiny of a rebellious crew ; — if Roger Bacon had 



12 

tired midway, in his career of experimental philosophy ; — or, 
if the genius of Newton had not penetrated the obscurity, 
which distance and the fiat of eternal wisdom had scattered 
over myriads of circling orbs, and rendered subservient their 
revolutions to the practical purposes of human conduct. In 
less than half a century, the wants and adaptations of our 
own country, had matured a system of navigation, which had 
perplexed, in vain, the philosophers of the old world. It 
detracts nothing from the fame of Fulton, that the face of 
the waters must have been changed, and a new element must 
have given wings to Commerce, even if he had not marked the 
practical invention as his own. The divine impress which is 
stamped upon great discoveries is constantly transferred from 
the object to the agent. Hence deification in pagan times, and 
now unbounded applause and gratitude. Let the humblest 
admirer in the throng, be satisfied, that his own exertions 
and industry may entitle him to the same distinction. There 
are various springs of knowledge which still remain concealed 
from human eyes. They will be disclosed in the fulness of 
time, and their names, deep as they now are in the darkness 
of obscurity, will be registered in the bright record of fame, 
who shall be worthy to become the chosen instruments of the 
divine and merciful discoveries. 

The schemes of popular instruction, now successfully tried, 
are founded on the consoling and liberal principle, that the 
humblest and most laborious stations are susceptible of a 
large infusion of profound science : and that all classes may 
attain the highest gratification which philosophy can afibrd, 
and reconcile its enjoyments with the most toilsome habits, 
and the most painful exposures of life. Plans of agricultural 



13 

employment — the original occupation of our race — have 
been successfull)' united with the usual course of elegant 
education ; and while nobles and princes are led to a prac- 
tical knowledge of the occupations of the humblest of their 
countrymen, the minds of the humblest subjects are advanced 
to a station, which nobles and their companions have asserted 
as peculiarly their own. Thaer, in Prussia, and Fellenberg, 
in Switzerland, have thus eminently reduced the inequalities 
of society, and confirmed the precious truth, that birth and 
titles are at the best but adventitious distinctions, which, of 
necessity, neither confer intellect, nor obstruct its giowth. 
No branch of elegant or useful learning is omitted at the 
celebrated agricultural school at Hofwyl, where the scholars 
are chiefly of patrician families, and where professors, the 
most distinguished, are secured by unbounded respect and 
munificent rewards. At Keszthely, in Lower Hungar), a 
noble and liberal patron of learning — the Graf Festetits — has 
established, and himself superintends an agricultural academy. 
His immense library and powerful influence are freely devo- 
ted to the interests of an institution, which, under the name 
of the Georgicon^ embraces at once, theory and practice, 
and conveys wide spread information in the Latin language — 
in jurisprudence — in medicine — in mathematics — in every 
thing which may be brought to bear, however distantly, upon 
the principal object indicated by the name. 

A system better adapted to republican institutions can 
scarcely be conceived. The mighty forests of Central 
Europe, sometimes the hiding places of ferocious robbers, 
and always the abodes of scarcely more ferocious wild beasts, 
seem to have called for a scheme of education, designed to 



14 

lessen the perils to which the countries, on their borders, are 
peculiarly exposed. But a people, surrounded by forests, 
iflfimeasurably more extensive, clinging to a personal equality, 
fundamental to all their institutions, surely require plans of 
education, equally diffusive, and exhibit a still wider field 
for their introduction and use. The discipline of education, 
and especially the salutary restraints of college duty, are pre- 
paratives, not only for eminence in science, but for the enjoy- 
ment of rational freedom. The wholesome regulations then 
imposed, instil the habit and the love of order, temper the 
loftiest spirit to obedience to the laws, reconcile obedience 
with the manliest independence, and mark the broad line 
which divides licentiousness from liberty. 

It is a truth which should be borne on the wings of every 
wind, that science and free government are natural compa- 
nions. Human happiness is the object and result of each. 
The cultivation and improvement of the one, are aided and 
advanced by the patronage, or rather, the harmonious union 
of the other. Every citizen feels an interest in the pros- 
perity and glory of his country, for he participates in its 
government, and reaps a share of its success. His exertions 
are stimulated, not by the doubtful favor of a capricious 
sovereign, who usurps the first fruits of honor, and deals out a 
partial return, but by the certainty of his own immediate 
enjoyment. He rests in the full assurance that the harvest 
of his labors, as it is the growth of his own care, will be secure 
in his own hands. If it be true that republics are ungrate- 
ful, it is not their error to be rapacious or unjust. 

Under the burning influence of arbitrary power, various 
arts may grow ; but they are, for the most part, such (however 



15 

valuable in themselves) as minister to the pride and pamper 
the appetite of greatness. It avails comparatively little to 
the general weal, that sovereigns should indulge their fancy 
in the mightie-t efTorts of self commemoration, although in 
the result they embellish the country, fix the standard of 
public taste, and hand down to posterity a record of the 
advancement of the age. Look through the course of time. 
What are the monuments which have sprung merely from 
the patronage of princes? Stupendous exertions of power: 
degrading proofs of obedience and submission: seldom con- 
tributory to the benefit of the nation or the world : sometimes 
failing even to commemorate the idol whose glory they were 
designed to immortalize. It was Stesicrates who offered ta 
convert Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander. Its circum- 
ference would have reached a hundred and twenty miles ; 
its height ten ; the left arm of the conqueror was to be the 
base of a populous city ; the right was to hold an urn from 
which a river should pour itself into the ocean. The pyra- 
mids are a monument of slavery if not of folly. Voltaire has 
truly said, that a free people never could have been induced 
to construct these mighty masses of untiring labor, which 
have long outlived even the object of their founders, and 
never could have promised the slighest practical utility. 

If the ornamental arts may flourish under any system, 
however arbitrary, what shall be said of those sciences, 
vithout which, all the energies of man are paralyzed — his 
onward march inevitably stayed ? Speculation and experi- 
ment are indispensable to the improvement of government. 
The most practical of sciences is surely not perfect from 
theory alone. Yet the despot preserves his throne only 
while its foundation is concealed. To look on it is death. 



16 

History is a kindred science: the handmaid indeed ofali- 
Without the experience of others, the wisest would resemble 
the unprofitable traveller tracing his footsteps through the 
sand. Herodotus, twice a voluntary exile from his native 
land for the sake of liberty, has borne ample testimony to the 
happy influence of freedom on the efforts of literature, and 
deduces from that science, of which he was the father, the 
position, that an equal form of government is the best. Let 
that fata' secret be whispered in a despots ear, and his sceptre 
trembles in his hand. The writiitgs of Tacitus, which are a 
mirror that reflects the true features of sovereigns, were an 
object of aversion to Napoleon — the most powerful and 
absolute monarch of modern times. Above all, the strains of 
eloquence, which flow free as the air of heaven, are silenced 
in the stagnant atmosphere which surrounds a despots throne. 

If literature has found a foothold in despotic countries, 
it has been chiefly conspicuous in works of fiction ; in 
tales of giants and enchanters, of fiends and fairies ; in the 
creations of fancy, which become the objects of its sport. 
These unearthly productions afiTord no rules to guide the 
course of human conduct : rules which would be entirely 
superfluous when it is governed by the nod of arbitrary 
power, it is fatal to learning, that depending for protec- 
tion on a single person, it must fade or flourish agreeably to 
the character of the prince. Let him extend the full force 
of his encouragement, and it may warm into existence a 
briUiant and luxuriant vegetation. But it is the abortive 
verdure of a Siberian summer, unprolific and unenduring. 
The sturdy growth of vigorous nature is wanting, and the 
substitute is infirm in strength, and uncertain in continu- 
ance. Ignorance is the basis of a despots' power. The 



17 

spirit and the understanding, are necessarily enslaved or 
disenthraled together. Faculties, which if enlightened and 
enlarged, manifest themselves in works of genius, raise too 
their possessor, to a conscious equality with his fellow- 
mortal, enriched though he be with the treasures, or defen- 
ded by the towers of greatness. Its awe and majesty melt 
before the light of knowledge, and rebellion in the bold, des- 
pair and indolence in the less daring, are the consequences. 

The time is long since passed when the exertions of genius 
were held in restraint by a tyranny not less formidable than 
that of power — ^the tyranny of prejudice. The results of 
enterprise and perseverance have been imputed to super- 
human agency, and punishments have been threatened and 
inflicted, for what the feeble philosophy of the day could 
account for only by the familiarity of demons. A blindness so 
perverse and so pernicious — which condemned the metaphy- 
sician as a heretic, the natural philosopher as a magician — 
was not confined to the dark age of Pope Silvester and Friar 
Bacon. It had vented itself in impious scepticism against 
the miracles of a redeemer, imputing the manifestations of a 
divine ministry, at one time, to an accidental klowledge of 
the pronunciation of the ineffable name of God ; at another 
to magic arts, acquired in Egypt, and exercised with more 
than ordinary dexterity. Its vestiges are discernible (although 
no longer even there practically mischievous) in the obsolete, 
but still existing, edicts against witchcraft, which continue to 
form an amusing feature in more than one existing code. 

Political institutions, which extirpate tyranny in govern- 
ment, are incompatible with the abuses of prejudice, for they 
are the fabrics of improved and cultivated minds. Intellectual 



18 

advancement, which has broken down the reign of ignorance 
and error, perceives the advantages and conlirms the exis- 
tence of well regulated freedom, which is the companion of 
wisdom, and the parent of national and individual happiness. 
A gleam of liberty, appearing for a moment, in the reigns of 
Vespasian and Trajan, awakened science from her slumber. 
But it passed like a single sun-beam over the hopeless for- 
tunes of a stormbeaten manner. With the return of less free 
and virtuous reigns, the hopes of science declined,and the ban- 
ishment of Juvenal was the signal for their extinguishment. 

There is no period of the elevation of the Roman purple 
which forms a fair disproof of the position that has been 
advanced. Not even the state of literature, under the patro- 
nage of Mecoenas, the minister of a cruel monarch, and him- 
self immortalized at once as the offspring of ancient kings, 
and the safeguard and glory of genius. His panegyrist had 
himself abandoned the service of Brutus and freedom, to seek 
the flowing Falernian at the hand of an Emperor. The 
Augustan age witnessed the ripeness of literature : but the 
seeds had been planted long before ; and the nation was still 
not convinced of the reality of despotism. They were delu- 
ded with something more than the recollection of liberty, 
and the shadow of its once mighty name. A delusive sem- 
blance was cautiously preserved with the forms of the consti- 
tution of the republic. Magistrates yet passed through the 
ceremony of elections : and the sovereign himself, affecting 
to regard his functions as merely temporary, exercised for 
the people's benefit, and held at the people's will, five times 
exhibited the pageant of receiving the suffrages of the Roman 
citizens. An excitement thus created, served for a while th$ 



ends of ambition, while it gratified a nation tiiat grasped stili 
at the name of freedom. It purchased the praise, however, 
only of poetry. Eloquence mourned in silence the murder of 
her Cicero. — Thateloquence had flourished only with liberty. 
Freedom and tier great master lied together. If the republic 
did not at an earlier day exhibit superiority in literature, it 
was because her intellectual strength was required and appli- 
ed, to defend and to preserve a national existence and indepen- 
dence. The same elevation of sentiment, the same aspiring 
spirit which gave wisdom to the councils of her senate, and 
nerved the arm of her warriors, were now directed with the 
same assurance of success to the accomplishments to be de- 
rived from science and the arts. 

Where shall we look for an age of literature comparable to 
the "golden period" of the Grecian republics? It was the 
result of that mighty effort, which, driving back the tide of 
invading tyranny, gave pride and loftiness to character, and 
having aroused the genius of the nation, taught it to soar 
through every region of art and science. According to a 
philosophic writer, it seemed as if Providence had designed 
to show in the learning and skill of this people, to what per- 
fection the human species might attain. If the remark be 
just, the finger of divine wisdom has no less emphatically 
pointed out, in their example, the connexion between exalted 
intellect and exalted freedom. It was the dying consolation 
of Epaminondas that he left his country free. In all the 
stages of Grecian, and especially of Athenian liberty; in its 
establishment, its secure, though interrupted repose, and 
emphatically in the struggles of its perilous and declining 
liours, — there shone around it a bright clear light of science, 



20 

which has continued, though sunk below its own horizon, 
for more than two thousand years, to shed its mellowed tints 
upon every effort of modern times. When freedom was no 
more, where were the artists and scholars whom it had in- 
spired ? Their lyres unstrung; their hearts chilled; their 
hands benumbed ; their genius fled. Desolation soon marked 
those fair regions for its own, where yet /' Ilissus rolls his 
whispering stream ;" and the deep impression has never 
been obliterated. 

The precepts of Grecian sages, the sublime and philo- 
sophic poetry which Apollo was believed, not merely to 
have inspired, but composed ; the lessons of an unequaled 
drama ; — all have been transmitted as models for the imita- 
tation of each succeeding age. But far beyond them all is 
the fame of their orators, 

" whose resistless eloquence 
Wielded at will that fierce democracy ; 
Shook th' arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece 
To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne." Par. Reg'd. 

These positions are in seeming conflict with some of the 
most agreeable recollections of our youthful reading ; with 
the genii of the Arabian tales ; with the real greatness of 
their princes, and the fabled wonders of their magicians. The 
Caliphs were certainly the most powerful and absolute sove- 
reigns of the globe. Dazzled, however, by their magnifi- 
cence, one can scarcely reflect with calmness on their claims 
as patrons of science. Their gorgeous toys united all the 
charms of nature with all the cunning of the most accom- 
phshed art. Trees of gold and silver, covered with artificial 
birds, warbling their natural harmony, decorated the banks 



21 

of the Tigris. Fountains of quicksiver, and halls encrusted 
with gold and pearls, shone with unequalcd lustre in the 
gardens of Zehra. Through all this rich display, the munifi- 
cence and success of these Arabian princes are still discerni- 
ble as the promoters of learning. Their romantic history 
exhibits in bold relief, a combination of the most attractive 
virtues and the most daring crimes. Unbounded generosity, 
and unrelenting cruelty ; affectionate and devoted hospitality, 
yet deadly hatred and implacable revenge ; dauntless bravery 
in maintaining right or pursuing wrong ; are points of charac- 
ter completely identified with their history or their romance — 
for their authentic annals are so full of wonderful events, that 
truth seems scarcely distinguishable from fiction. 

Under the auspices of Haroun al Rasheed, his father and his 
son, literature was not confined to poetry and fable. Philoso- 
phy was invited from Greece : the heavenly bodies were stu- 
died with success : and branches of medicine and the mathe- 
matics were cultivated and improved. The encouragement 
of science was derived, however, less from the station than 
the feehngs of the monarch, who with all his magnificence 
was but an "illiterate barbarian.'" An age of glorious con- 
quest, was succeeded by one of rapid decline. The literature 
of Arabia, like a spot of verdure in its own sandy deserts, was 
the more conspicuous from the general gloom which hungover 
the rest of the world. Nor was the natural antipathy of despo- 
tism to mental exertion long restrained, as it might discover 
the impostorship of a prophet, and the tyranny of a caliph. 
All science but that of the Koran was hateful to the ferocious 
Saladin, and the philosopher who ventured to announce his 
speculative doctrines, was exposed to an ignominious death; 



22 

Turkey is the desert of literature. Wrapped in a narrow 
and selfish contempt for every thing but the language and 
the learning of Islamism, the contaminating influence of the 
improvements and productions of other countries, is pertina- 
ciously excluded. From the time of the overthrow of the 
Greek empire, art and science have declined together. The 
beautiful country, its fertile soil, the scites of its noble cities 
and splendid temples, its magnificent capital, marked by 
Kature for a great metropolis — all, still remain in the posses- 
sion of the ruthless inhabitants. These, even their abject 
s lavery could not spoil. But all that could be w^asted by 
the violence, or blighted by the neglect of man, has been 
destroyed. Populous and cultivated lands have become 
desolate, or deserted to wild beasts and murderers : temples 
and cities gone to ruin, learning expelled, violence and 
rapine alone triumphant. " Nothing is to be seen," says a 
late writer, "in the expiring empire, but anarchy and riot; 
massacre and spoliation 5 smoking ruins, and human torture." 
Such are the effects of despotism ! the secondary cause, as 
it should seem to bring about the accomplishment of the 
prediction uttered of old under divine inspiration : an ac- 
complishment which the uplifted arm of the Russian soldier 
threatens perhaps at this very hour to complete, in the final 
overthrow of the Ottoman empire. 

These suggestions are made with a view to contrast them 
with the condition of a country which depends for its happi- 
ness and glory, or its wretchedness and disgrace, not upon 
the capricious will of an individual, but upon the manly vigor, 
or reproachful sloth, of the body of its citizens. A country, 
the freest, if not the most enlightend in the world. The 



23 

ibunders of its institutions, guided by the lights of experience 
and history, honestly endeavored to select the merits and 
avoid the errors of every other system ; and they established 
the only genuine experiment of constitutional freedom, the 
truest substitution of the sovereignty of the law, for the sove- 
reignty of man. Neither freedom nor science is threatened 
by a tyrants frowns ; genius is neither curbed by fear, nor 
spoiled by ill judged favor. While neither darkness obscures 
nor fable discolours the events which ushered in the history 
of his country, the American looks back to their reality witii' 
scarcely a regret for any thmg that exists, or a wish that it 
had been otherwise. The only romance discernible in her 
annals consists in the quiet departure of a peaceful people 
from the abodes of their ancestors, bringing with them no 
inheritance except unconquerable vigor, and inalienable 
love of freedom, to seek a patriarchal home in the midst 
of a wilderness. That home was found. It was found, not 
in association with the children of the forest, but to their 
gradual exclusion and decay. If the invasion of civihzed 
manners be not justified by the substitution of a more nu- 
merous race, by the extirpation of ignorance and idolatry, 
together with the victims of the one and the ministers of 
the other ; ample reparation is still attainable. It consists 
in devotion to the cause of science ; in the sacrifice of error 
and prejudice ; in the cultivation of all that can preserve the 
loveliness of nature and give embellishment to polislied Hfe. 
A heavy debt to humanity and justice will never be can- 
called, until the desert shall lose every trace of its savage 
wildness, and be made every where to give place to tho 
monuments of universal knowledge and social virtue. 



24 

Nature would cry shame to her degenerate sons, if the 
magnificent incentives here presented were unfruitful of 
effect. Where every visible object is gigantic in dimensions 
and commanding in strength, let not the mind abate of its 
corresponding proportions. Partaking of the character of all 
that surrounds it ; it will be free as its native air ; extended 
as its native plains ; bold, expansive and fertilizing as its 
native waters ; lofty and aspiring as its native mountains. 

Every thing is vast, and every thing is new. Systems 
which have grown up in the old world, or have been natu- 
ralized there, must be inverted in their application to a 
different sphere. Political economy, which has heretofore 
practically explained the production, distribution, and con- 
sumption of national resources, over narrow surfaces and 
among a crowded people, has found out new paths for the 
prosperity of a thinner population, scattered over almost 
immeasurable space. Legislation and jurisprudence suited 
to a refinement approaching to decay, must be remodified 
for the uses of a growth still unattained ; a vigor hardened 
into manhood, but far distant from the infirmities, and per- 
haps even the mature experience of age. It has been truly 
said that knowledge will be diffused in proportion to the 
facilities of education, the free circulation of books, the 
emoluments and distinctions gained by literary attamments, 
and the rewards they meet in the respect and applause of 
society. Here then should be centered the science of the 
world ; for its various sources are abundantly supplied. 

If many an art be unattained, which would minister to 
luxury and forebode decline, the deficiency is richly com- 
pensated by the arts of happiness and real glory. Even the 



25 

highest flights of eloquence are reserved for the day of need ; 
till some artful Philip shall assail the independence, or some 
ambitious Cataline shall conspire against the freedom of the 
republic. Great exertions are the offspring of great perils. 
To lament the absence of efforts which are called forth by 
overwhelming distress, or the display of resolution which 
shines in the dark hour of adversity, were to put aside the 
mantling cup of bliss, to invite and welcome wo. In the 
cultivation of every talent, in the enlargement and perfection 
of the means to enjoy the sunshine of prosperity or buffet the 
storms of adverse fortune, we do but prepare for the days 
which cannot be avoided or foreseen. It is the part of every 
citizen to share by his counsel or his voice in the govern- 
ment of his country. The inheritance of freemen is the 
obligation to preserve their country free. To the due 
administration, and competent support of government, which 
is the perfection of science, all science and all wisdom are 
tB^utary. To the future legislators of the republic, I would 
repeat the language which Cicero supposes to have been 
addressed by the orator Crassus to his youthful friends : — 
" pergite, ut facitis, adolescentes, atque in id studium in quo 
estis, incumbite; ut et vobis honori, et amicis utilitati, et 
reipublicoe emolumento, esse possitis." 

If military renown be the natural precursor of eminence 
in learning, well may the ground on which we stand be pro- 
lific of scholars and philosopfiers, for it has been moistened 
witli the blood of patriots and hallowed by their glory It 
has accordingly given to our country, some of the wisest and 
most virtuous of her citizens. Among them, these classic 
scenes especially recai the recoUectioa of that distiguished 

D 



26 

scholar who presided over the institution when so many of mj 
contemporaries entered upon the pathway of Parnassus, but 
who now sleeps in an honored grave. " Plants of his hand," 
they will not forget the debt of gratitude they owe his memory. 
Cherishing his virtues in affectionate remembrance, they will 
not cease to acknowledge their obligations, and to repeat his 
praise. Eminently skilled in the various departments of 
human learning, it was his chief ornament and aim to walk 
in the precepts of his God. Yet so happily tempered was 
his devotion, that it won the reluctant to a religion that had 
no austerity, and convinced the sternest zealot, that virtue 
could be unbending without a frown. Numerous and exalted 
accomplishments did not absorb a soul that felt its duties 
and its destiny to be far above them ; but only served to 
brighten and embellish the substantial qualities that com* 
posed his character. A spirit pure and lofty, yet kind and 
conciliating: a heart open to the impulses of benevolence ; 
an eye of peculiar benignity and brightness ; a form of pecu- 
liar dignity and grace : acquirements which none could ap> 
proach without instruction ; an eloquence which few could 
witness without emotion ; united to fix a lasting impression 
on admiring pupils whom he taught; on affectionate and 
grateful children whom he loved ; on an age which he en- 
lightened ; on a country which he adorned. 



